Monthly fee to use lights!!!?!?!

((FORDTECH)) · Mar 25, 2023

TnFishwater98 said:
You take your kids to a pool…Should you Tip the lifeguards?

If you want those millennials to jump in and save your kids, you might wanna tip them lol

Derrick0580 · Mar 25, 2023

Consumers speak loudly with their wallets! People refuse to pay a fee for an item that’s already 10 years old and obsolete he won’t have any choice but to pull the plug which in turn will force the light manufacturers to upgrade their equipment. $435 for a light that doesn’t have built in controlability is just plain nonsense!

Sean Clark · Mar 25, 2023

TnFishwater98 said:
My wife and I were just talking how ridiculous this world has become. You stay at a nice hotel/resort and they want to charge you $35 a day to park your vehicle… You go pick up some food somewhere and they expect you to tip!?! Even some stores now throw you the tip option when you are just buying a t-shirt.
I’ve been a server before at a nice restaurant, I get it. But then I don’t get it. It’s gotten out of hand and it will not stop if we keep playing the game. I’m ok if people judge me or think I’m a A Hole for not leaving a tip (when no extra service was provided, just a product I decided to purchase)…. I’m over it!

I like this post. Wishing it had a tip jar.

miran2782 · Mar 25, 2023

First I would not be happy if I had one. But a key point here is that the actual light manufacturer has already shut down their business almost 3 years ago. On the bright side maybe some nanobox users will sell their leds dirt cheap in the marketplace. They might be good candidate for a reef-pi/esp32s pwm controller mod. If I recall correctly, the actual led arrays looked pretty good.

TnFishwater98 · Mar 25, 2023

@SpencerShepard , I’m sure you don’t like what you hear in this thread. We don’t know your complete situation. I even had to look up the light because I’ve never heard of it. I’m sure it’s a great light and you’ve put countless hours into trying to make it the best. However, these commitments are coming from the consumers which should be priceless info for any business owner in this market.
It seems like a majority of the people that committed in this thread are totally against another monthly subscription. I understand your prices have risen recently and it’s costing you more to keep the server and such up and running. However, prices have risen for us in all aspects also. Most of us don’t want to spend more money especially with something that we purchased not thinking we would have to keep paying for it to work. You might not of sold as many lights as you have if the buyer knew there was going to be a monthly fee. Hopefully you can find a better solution..That might be getting an investor or even selling your business. Hope the best for ya and know you wouldn’t have commented in this thread if you didn’t care. Tough times for us all. GL!

DIYreefer · Mar 25, 2023

On a similar note, my wife's car came with remote start when we bought it. However, in order to utilize that feature we are expected to pay $15 per month. I would gladly pay it for her to have such a valuable feature, especially during the summer here in south Tx, but she refuses to pay for it out of principle. She's a keeper.

But I think it's important that we, as consumers, stand our ground and not cave to companies that are utilizing these tactics. We have to let them know with our wallets, and if enough of us do, they will inevitably get the message, or cease to exist. If we don't, well, then expect to see a whole lot more of this sort of thing in every aspect of our lives. Sucks.

gbroadbridge · Mar 26, 2023

Wyvern said:
Bullshi. Its a light, not Adobe Photoshop.

I can see a one time fee of like $15, but to charge a monthly subscription when the health of your animals is on the line is crap.

Adobe grandfathered existing customers

Tamberav · Mar 26, 2023

The monthly fee is $2 a month with the annual subscription. I would easily pay that for nanobox if they were still a thing.

gbroadbridge · Mar 26, 2023

Tamberav said:
The monthly fee is $2 a month with the annual subscription. I would easily pay that for nanobox if they were still a thing.

It's dinner in Vietnam

miran2782 · Mar 26, 2023

TnFishwater98 said:
@SpencerShepard , I’m sure you don’t like what you hear in this thread. We don’t know your complete situation. I even had to look up the light because I’ve never heard of it. I’m sure it’s a great light and you’ve put countless hours into trying to make it the best. However, these commitments are coming from the consumers which should be priceless info for any business owner in this market.
It seems like a majority of the people that committed in this thread are totally against another monthly subscription. I understand your prices have risen recently and it’s costing you more to keep the server and such up and running. However, prices have risen for us in all aspects also. Most of us don’t want to spend more money especially with something that we purchased not thinking we would have to keep paying for it to work. You might not of sold as many lights as you have if the buyer knew there was going to be a monthly fee. Hopefully you can find a better solution..That might be getting an investor or even selling your business. Hope the best for ya and know you wouldn’t have commented in this thread if you didn’t care. Tough times for us all. GL!

You also have to realize that he is not the manufacturer of the light, but only supplied a component that the light manufacturer used in the light.

TnFishwater98 · Mar 26, 2023

miran2782 said:
You also have to realize that he is not the manufacturer of the light, but only supplied a component that the light manufacturer used in the light.

Soooo?

TnFishwater98 · Mar 26, 2023

TnFishwater98 said:
Soooo?

Is it made in China? Don’t really see your point in the actual subject..

Sisterlimonpot · Mar 26, 2023

@SpencerShepard

I'm sure you've considered many options to avoid this, and if what you say is true, you should be commended for all your efforts thus far and refusing to pay yourself in order to keep the service free.

The one big question that seems so obvious to the layman is, can you take steps to sever the dependency on cloud service and provide a path to allow users to have local control through their home network?

GatorGreg · Mar 27, 2023

TnFishwater98 said:
Is it made in China? Don’t really see your point in the actual subject..

No it was a dude named Dave Fason or Faston. Something like that. The light had a big cult following over on NR forum. Some pretty neat lights and the tanks that had them on them did really well. Those cats over there would do unforgivable things for those lights even to this day. The guy just fell off the face of the reef earth and quit making them. Seemed like he had such a good thing going he couldn’t keep up maybe it became overwhelming. People were waiting months just to get these lights. They still sell used every now and then for almost what people originally paid lol

TnFishwater98 · Mar 27, 2023

GatorGreg said:
No it was a dude named Dave Fason or Faston. Something like that. The light had a big cult following over on NR forum. Some pretty neat lights and the tanks that had them on them did really well. Those cats over there would do unforgivable things for those lights even to this day. The guy just fell off the face of the reef earth and quit making them. Seemed like he had such a good thing going he couldn’t keep up maybe it became overwhelming. People were waiting months just to get these lights. They still sell used every now and then for almost what people originally paid lol

Sounds like he needs financial and manufacturing help. With such a good product, I wish I was in a position to be a investor to help out…

3000kelvin · Apr 20, 2023

The BlueFish app hasn't been working for me. I thought it was user error until I emailed BlueFish "Support." @SpencerShepard acknowledged that there's an issue on his end and that it would be weeks till it's fixed.

I don't mind a subscription model, but being forced to pay to use my lights using an app with less than 100% functionality is unacceptable. I'm filing complaints with the FTC, BBB and Apple store today.

Nick Steele · Apr 20, 2023

Didn’t read whole post so sorry if it’s been brought up but a car company decided to charge a monthly fee for their radios and people spoke with their money and didn’t subscribe so they eventually made the service free of charge. This was within the past two years during Covid so it does work if the masses all speak with their money.

TnFishwater98 · Apr 20, 2023

Nick Steele said:
Didn’t read whole post so sorry if it’s been brought up but a car company decided to charge a monthly fee for their radios and people spoke with their money and didn’t subscribe so they eventually made the service free of charge. This was within the past two years during Covid so it does work if the masses all speak with their money.

It goes with everything. People and businesses are hurting with the never ending inflation that started 2 years ago. Businesses will keep raising prices/adding prices to keep their sales up especially if we (the pawns) keep buying.

To this specific incident, the situation is complete garbage. You should be able to get a refund for your light even if you bought it 2 years ago. When you purchased the light there is an understood Contract with the manufacturer that the light would work when you wanted it to. For the company to make it where you can’t turn the light on is theft/fraud.

albano · Apr 20, 2023

3000kelvin said:
I'm filing complaints with the FTC, BBB and Apple store today.

As a former business owner, I have to tell you (and the world) that BBB is total BS! They have no power to do anything, their job is to convince businesses to join and pay them $!

Sisterlimonpot · Apr 20, 2023

Nick Steele said:
Didn’t read whole post so sorry if it’s been brought up but a car company decided to charge a monthly fee for their radios and people spoke with their money and didn’t subscribe so they eventually made the service free of charge. This was within the past two years during Covid so it does work if the masses all speak with their money.

I think the difference within your scenario is that car companies have deep pockets and are always looking for ways to squeeze more out of the consumer. If an added fee doesn't stick, they simply pivot and move on.

This is a bit different. Passing the cost of the cloud based subscription to the customer comes from a position of humility. We may OR may not believe the story that the owner can no longer afford to pay to keep the services free without charging consumers. But I tend to think that most of us don't have a reason not to believe the owner.

To speak with your wallet now, may simply mean that every one who already has this brand of light will be left with a "brick."

Nobody wants to start paying for something they we were getting for free. Unfortunately, this has become a reality and it's very unfortunate for those that own these lights.

I don't know what the future holds for this company. Perhaps this subscription will turn things around and keep the momentum going and maybe this can be temporary. There is definitely a cult like following for this brand.